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Fidel Castro says Obama's smile can't be trustedMon Dec 14, 2009 7:31pm EST HAVANA (Reuters) - Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro warned on Monday that President Barack Obama's "kindly smile" could not be trusted, saying Washington was plotting against leftist Latin American governments including Venezuela's. Castro, 83, who ran Cuba for nearly 50 years before poor health led him to hand the presidency to his younger brother Raul last year, initially welcomed Obama's election but has been increasingly critical. In a letter read by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at a gathering of leftist leaders in Havana, Castro said the United...

ABC News' Kirit Radia reports: Senior US and Cuban officials held talks in Havana earlier this month that were longer and more wide ranging than previously revealed, the State Department said today. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Bisa Williams traveled to the Havana, Cuba for talks on restoring postal service between the two countries, but officials now say she also held additional talks in western Cuba about the status of the US Interest Section in Cuba and migration, among other topics. Bisa Williams took advantage of the opportunity while in Cuba for postal talks to have...

HAVANA (Reuters) – Former Cuban President Fidel Castro marked his 83rd birthday on Thursday with a gloomy warning about the global economic crisis, which is hitting his country hard, and a vow to "carry on." Castro, the leader of Cuba's 1959 revolution that brought communism to the Caribbean island, has remained out of public view for the last three years and in 2008 handed over the presidency to younger brother Raul Castro for health reasons. But while he leaves day-to-day running of the government to Raul Castro, he remains influential behind the scenes and writes regular commentaries for state-run media....

HAVANA – Raul Castro announced Saturday that Cuba will cut spending on education and health care, potentially weakening the building blocks of its communist system in a bid to revive a floundering economy. The former defense minister who took over the presidency last year called state spending "simply unsustainable" and said the cash-strapped government would reorganize rural schools and scrutinize its free health care system in search of ways to save money. But he vowed that the island will not see fundamental change even after he and his older brother and predecessor Fidel Castro are gone. "I wasn't elected president...

One of Fidel Castro's sons carried on an eight-month flirtation over the Internet with a person he believed was a Colombian woman. Surprise! The woman was actually a Miami man. The trickster said the prank, broadcast on a Miami TV station, showed it's possible to get around Cuba's security. ''Guess where I am and I will make love to you without stopping,'' Antonio Castro Soto del Valle, Fidel's son and physician for the Cuban national baseball team, reportedly wrote ''Claudia'' during a January trip to Russia with his uncle Raúl. But ''Claudia'' turned out to be Luis Domínguez, a Cuban-born...

We, the Heads of State and Government of Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica, Honduras, Nicaragua and Venezuela, member countries of ALBA, consider that the Draft Declaration of the 5th Summit of the Americas is insufficient and unacceptable for the following reasons: - The Declaration does not provide answers to the Global Economic Crisis, even though this crisis constitutes the greatest challenge faced by humanity in the last decades and is the most serious threat of the current times to the welfare of our peoples. - The Declaration unfairly excludes Cuba, without mentioning the consensus in the region condemning the blockade and isolation...

HAVANA -- Fidel Castro said Tuesday that President Obama "misinterpreted" his brother Raul's sentiments toward the United States and bristled at any suggestion Cuba should free political prisoners or reduce official fees on money sent to the island from the U.S. Raul Castro touched off a whirlwind of speculation that the U.S. and Cuba could be headed toward a thaw in nearly a half-century of chilly relations last week, when he said Cuban leaders would be willing to sit down with their U.S. counterparts and discuss "everything," including human rights, freedom of the press and expression, and political prisoners on...

BY GLENN GARVIN If I were making a list of the world's greatest experts on lists, David Wallechinsky would be right at the top. He's been compiling quirky collections of names and facts for more than three decades now, in books like The People's Almanac and The Book Of Lists, and he's the master of the form. Who else is going to give you the names of 17 Children Who May Have Lived With Wild Animals? (No, Flipper's pal Bud doesn't count.) Or 10 People With The Most Square Miles Of The Surface Of The Earth Named After Them? (Sure,...

Fidel laments that the Cuban linux variant is named "Nova," but believe it or not, there's an even bigger mistake in the computer world. NOTE: The author of this comic requests that you visit his web site and please refrain from copying the cartoon in this thread. Thanks!

HAVANA – Fidel Castro said Tuesday he was consulted on the sweeping leadership changes by his brother Raul's government and that two of the ousted officials had been seduced by "the honey of power." The article published on a government Web site gave the first official hint of why at least two powerful officials were removed in the abrupt shakeup — Cuba's largest in decades. The move was widely seen as Raul Castro putting his personal stamp on the government he inherited from Fidel Castro a year ago. But the elder brother wrote that he had been consulted about the...

HAVANA (AFP) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was in Cuba on Saturday, paying a surprise visit to the island after a major poll win last Sunday. It is the Venezuelan leader's first trip abroad since winning a referendum on February 15 that removed term limits on his presidency. Standing arm-in-arm with Chavez on his arrival late Friday, Cuban President Raul Castro raised the Venezuelan leader's fist in victory, declaring "I do this in Fidel's name" -- a reference to his brother, a long-time friend of Chavez.

HAVANA – Fidel Castro suggested Thursday that his health is failing, saying that four years from now he doesn't expect to be following current events. In an online column titled "Reflections of Comrade Fidel," the 82-year-old Cuban leader appeared to be pondering his own mortality, saying Cuban officials "shouldn't feel bound by my occasional Reflections, my state of health or my death." "I have had the rare privilege of observing events over such a long time. I receive information and meditate calmly on those events," he wrote. "I expect I won't enjoy that privilege in four years, when Obama's first...

Fidel Castro's failure to meet visiting dignitaries or publish his regular newspaper column has fuelled speculation that his health has deteriorated dramatically. The former president, 82, has not appeared on TV or in print in recent weeks despite expectations that he would participate in the celebrations for the Cuban revolution's 50th anniversary on 1 January. Venezuela's president, Hugo Chavez, an ally and unofficial spokesman, fed the rumour-mill by saying Castro would not surface in public again. "That Fidel in uniform, who walked the streets and towns at daybreak, embracing the people, will not return," Chavez said on TV last Sunday....

CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Sunday it is unlikely that ailing former Cuban leader Fidel Castro will ever appear in public again.

HAVANA – Fidel Castro said Thursday that President-elect Barack Obama is a man Cuba can talk with and indicated that communist officials would be willing to meet with him wherever he wants. But the former Cuban leader expressed disappointment with some of Obama's Cabinet choices, including Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state and Robert Gates as defense secretary.

HAVANA (Reuters) – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met former Cuban leader Fidel Castro on Friday as Moscow rebuilt ties with an old Cold War ally during a trip to strengthen its political and economic clout in Latin America. The meeting came at the end of Medvedev's tour of the region, which has been seen as an attempt by Russia to taunt Washington in its traditional backyard as well as boost Moscow's trade with the region. "This has been a great visit, a magnificent visit, and now he is going to see Fidel," Cuban President and Fidel's brother, Raul Castro, told...

HAVANA – Cuba on Wednesday presented a new book by Fidel Castro, who has not appeared in public since undergoing emergency intestinal surgery in July 2006 but who authorities claim spent more than 400 hours working on the manuscript. "La Paz en Colombia," or "Peace in Colombia," explores Cuba's role in attempts to end Colombia's civil war, which has raged for more than four decades. The 265-page book was presented during a Havana ceremony that Castro did not attend, though one of his sons was there, as was Ricardo Alarcon, head of the country's rubber-stamp parliament. Several rounds of peace...

NEW YORK: Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro has slept with 35,000 women in his 82 years of life, according to an upcoming documentary. "He slept with at least two women a day for more than four decades - one for lunch and one for supper," the New York Post quoted an ex-Castro official named "Ramon" as telling filmmaker Ian Halperin. "Sometimes he even ordered one for breakfast," the official said. "I don't think he would have stayed on as long as he did if not for all the incredible women he had access to as president," the official added. Fidel...

HAVANA – Cuba has turned down U.S. storm relief handouts, but is asking for trade restrictions to be lifted so it can buy American materials to assist in its recovery from Hurricane Ike, officials said Thursday. "Cuba hasn't asked the United States government to give it anything," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement ...

Fidel Castro says corrupt judges are to blame for Cuba's sub-par showing at the Beijing Olympics. Castro alleges that judges blatantly stole semifinal fights from two Cuban boxers, and that a judge must have been bribed in the case of Angel Matos, who kicked a referee in the face after he was disqualified in a bronze-medal taekwondo match.

HAVANA (Reuters) - The era of Fidel Castro appeared to be ending July 30, 2006, when the ailing leader handed over power to his brother Raul Castro. But two years later, he remains a force to be reckoned with in Cuba and to some degree on the international scene. Although he no longer rules the Caribbean island as he did for almost 50 years, the 81-year-old still has his brother's ear and is using a newfound career as a newspaper columnist to make his views known. Diplomatic cocktail gossip in Havana centers on whether he is using his clout to...

Much of the Religious Left has abandoned its old infatuation with Marxism, having long since moved on to radical environmentalism or performing apologetics for radical Islam. But quaintly, some relics still hang on to the old causes, chief of which is the 50 year love affair with Fidel Castro and his Cuban despotism.

Cuba's Useful Idiot By Humberto Fontova FrontPageMagazine.com | 4/16/2008 Last month Dan Rather’s new gig as host of HDNET's “Dan Rather Reports” found him, as so often during his CBS days, “reporting” from Cuba. From Dan we heard of “dramatic changes” down there, of a “remarkable transformation.” “The door (to the U.S.) is open, “explained Dan. “The best time to talk is now.” Dan was chanting a familiar tune, one we've heard almost nonstop from the MSM's pet “Cuba Experts'” for the past 21 months. As usual when dealing with Cuban matters, a sober look behind the carefully constructed and...

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Thursday that his close friend Fidel Castro predicted the fall of the U.S. dollar. Chavez said Cuba's 81-year-old former president mentioned the prediction some time ago before signs of a weakening dollar had begun to appear. "Fidel told me one day, 'Chavez, it won't be long before the crisis of the dollar occurs,'" the Venezuelan leader said in a televised speech. Chavez said Castro handed him a document he had written during one of their meetings in Havana that said "the United States has bought half the world with paper bills that...

HAVANA (AP) - Ailing former leader Fidel Castro made a rare mention of his government's crackdown on political opponents five years ago, defending the action and exhorting the United States to treat its prisoners with the same humanity he said Cuba uses with its inmates. "What an enormous difference between the methods of the United States and of Cuba!" Castro wrote in an essay published Monday in state media, apparently referring to how the U.S. government treats terror suspects. "None of the mercenaries were tortured or deprived of attorney or trial," Castro said of the 75 dissidents rounded up beginning...

Prominent Cuban author and dissident, Armando Valladares, has predicted the collapse of communism in Cuba after the death of former president Fidel Castro. Valladares said that people in Cuba were tired of 'acquiescing to state terrorism' like others had in communist Romania, Czechoslovakia and Hungary. Valladares said that the young "sons of the revolution, are becoming ever more politically active... The author who spent 22 years in prison was in Italy to present a new edition of his most popular work, Against All Hope: a Memoir of Life in Castro's Gulags, in the Italian capital in Rome. He also critised...

Back in late September 2006 in The Partial Assassination of Castro, I presented evidence that Castro had probably been poisoned with a tasteless odorless poison called superwarfarin, had hemorrhaged profusely for a prolonged period, and had been brain damaged in the process. He has been living in a medical version of prison, unable to talk to the outside world lest he embarrass himself, Cuba and the cause of Communism. Since then further evidence has supported that conclusion. Even if Fidel Castro was brain damaged, that did not stop his brother and associates from creating a facade that Fidel was still...

Andy Garcia is urging fashion-conscious rebels to stop wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the image of Latino revolutionary Ernesto 'Che' Guevara because they remind Cubans of terrible times. The actor accepts that Guevara stands for rebellion and is seen as a hero to many, but he sees the revolutionary as a butcher who killed millions of his countrymen. Argentine-born Guevara helped current Cuban leader Fidel Castro overthrow General Fulgencio Batista's government in a guerrilla revolution in the late 1950s. Garcia, who left Cuba when he was five, says, "I'd be curious to go around and ask them how much they really...

HAVANA — Nearly 50 years of rule by Fidel Castro ended in Cuba on Sunday as parliament chose his brother Raul to replace him — a transition that leaves the island's communist system unshaken. The new president proposed consulting with the ailing 81-year-old Fidel on all major decisions of state, and parliament approved the proposal. The vote came five days after Fidel said he was retiring, capping a career in which he frustrated efforts by 10 U.S. presidents to oust him. The transition was not likely to bring a major shift in policies of the communist government that have put...

Anti-American snarkiness has reared its ugly little head in this London Times travel story by Tom Chesshyre, "Tourism 'golden era' ends in Cuba." Apparently, The Times believes that life under Fidel Castro's oppressive regime was a "golden era" for visiting that island. Yes, how quaint to see dilapidated buildings and people whose diets are severely restricted by government rationing. The Times seems to fear that these "good times" may soon be coming to an end and urges visits there before the atmosphere is ruined by the American tourist "invasion": Travellers interested in visiting Cuba are being advised to go now before an...

HAVANA - Fidel Castro said Friday that he's relieved to be stepping down as Cuba's president, complaining that the process of selecting Cuba's next government "had left me exhausted." After nearly a half-century in power, Castro announced Tuesday that he wouldn't accept another term when parliament selects a new government on Sunday. "The night before, I slept better than ever," Castro wrote in a newspaper column. "My conscience was clear and I promised myself a vacation." The ailing 81-year-old said Tuesday that he's not well enough to continue as president. Most expect his brother Raul, five years younger, to step...

The announcement this week of Fidel Castro's retirement was a mere formality. You'll recall the identical announcement July of 2006. In fact, many Cuba watchers will tell you that his little brother, Raul, as head of Cuba's Armed Forces, has been mostly running Cuba--the nuts and bolts of the thing--for decades, and more singlehandedly for the past five years.

Michael Graham, blogging at The Natural Truth, brings us this disgusting but not surprising story about how CNN coached its anchors to treat the subject of fidel castro in an early morning email today. I can now confirm independently that not only did such an email go out, here it is in its entirety: From: Flexner, Allison Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2008 7:46 AM To: *CNN Superdesk (TBS) Cc: Neill, Morgan; Darlington, Shasta Subject: Castro guidance Some points on Castro – for adding to our anchor reads/reporting: * Please say in our reporting that Castro stepped down in a letter...

The official statement from Cuba is that Fidel Castro was overworked and required surgery as a result. How fitting for the leader of the Island Workers' Paradise to work himself sick. How noble an illness. Though Castro's actual ailment was declared a state secret, the publicly available information points conclusively to a very different cause for his illness than the official one. If he had an operation, then he should have recovered by now. In the photo below, released on September 1, about five weeks after his illness began, note how pallid Castro is. Many weeks after surgery, he still...

link only to CNN

Fidel Castro Steps Down...

HAVANA - Fidel Castro revealed Thursday that he thought he was dying when he fell ill in July 2006, and hastily made plans to give up power as doctors fought to save his life. "When I fell gravely ill the night of the 26th and dawn of the 27th of July, I thought that would be the end," the ailing 81-year-old wrote in an essay published on the front page of state newspapers. "And while the doctors fought for my life, the head aide of the Council of State read at my urging the text and I dictated the necessary...

HAVANA - Fidel Castro looked frail but alert and even playful in a series of official photographs taken during a meeting with Brazil's president on Tuesday, the first images of the ailing Cuban leader released in about three months. Wearing a tracksuit and tennis shoes that have become his trademark since he fell ill, Castro is seen seated and grinning, his beard well-trimmed and his hair combed as he talks with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. In some images, Castro is seen pretending to snap pictures with a camera. The pictures were given to reporters as Brazil's leader left...

THE MAXIMUM LEADER WAS SITTING IN A LA-Z-BOY RECLINER IN THE PRESIDENTIAL PALACE IN CUBANACAN, ABOUT 20 MINUTES WEST OF HAVANA, CUBA. HE WAS WATCHING KATY COURIC'S NEWSCAST. CASTRO'S CONVOY DIDN'T NEED TO STOP FOR TRAFFIC LIGHTS. IT WOULD TAKE ANYONE ELSE 45 MINUTES. HE HAD SHED HIS FATIGUES AND NOW WORE HIS CUBAN OLYMPIC TRACK SUIT. HIS GASTRIC SYSTEM HAD BEEN UNDER ATTACK FOR THE LAST YEAR AND MOST DAYS HE WAS IN CONSIDERABLE DISCOMFORT. HE TOLD HIS BROTHER, RAOUL, THAT HE WISHED NOW THAT HE HADN'T MADE SUCH A BIG DEAL OUT OF GIVING UP HIS BELOVED CIGARS...

The networks are preparing for death of Fidel Castro. Writers, producers and most telling, union engineers and tape editors on expensive overtime stayed late at one network in NY tonight, updating Castro's obit tape. In addition, both network owned and leased satellite uplink trucks headed for Miami fast tonight after covering the Lisa Nowak arraignment in Orlando. My Tampa-based Bay of Pigs survivors (after miscalling Fidel's death last week) are withholding data until confirmed. Right now, it's all rumors,.... but.... -30-

Rumors about the death of Cuban President, Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz, are nothing new and have circulated many times before, but many Cuban exiles in Miami believe this one is for real. With no word from Fidel Castro on his birthday (August 13), speculation about his “departure” have increased. If Castro is not already dead, it is probably safe to say that, from a political point of view, he longer exists. Fidel transferred his presidential powers to his brother (and successor) Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz earlier this year (although this happened provisionally in July 2006), while receiving surgery to repair...

Upcoming cover, just leaked from one of my sources in the main stream media -- I can't tell you who as she would probably lose her job.

My cellphone has not stopped ringing for the past ten minutes. Various sources inform that an announcement will come within the next few minutes from the Cuban government on Cuban TV and media. Stay tuned and we'll see if we've been manipulated once again or if today is the birth date of Cuba's liberty. Update: Here's the deal and what I know up to now, as of 1500 hours, August 24, 2007: First, South Florida Law Enforcement is on alert. An EOC (Emergency Operations Center) has been set-up and manned somewhere in Homestead. Im also told Local and State government...

Sources reveal exclusively to PerezHilton.com that U.S. officials will be holding a press conference shortly to announce the death of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. PerezHilton.com was the first media outlet in the world to break the news of Castro’s death. We posted THIS ITEM on it last week!!!! A Cuban broke the story of the oppressive ogre’s passing. We are soooo proud and happy!!! We’re so sad we can’t be in Miami this weekend. There’s gonna be a big ol’ party en Calle Oche, mi gente!!!! And, in the words of Gloria Estefan… “Quiero my Cuba libre!”

There's an strangely ominous post on celebrity news site PerezHilton.com tonight wondering aloud if Cuban dictator Fidel Castro has died. Mr. Hilton has piqued our interest — as intrepid night reporter noted, "He's never wrong!" (Well, at least when it comes to celebrities, anyhow.) Here's what he wrote: Is Castro Dead??? We are hearing very loud rumblings that Cuban dictator Fidel Castro has died, though it could be just a flare-up of the health rumors that have dogged the tyrant recently. No official confirmation yet, but we will be following this story closely. Post reporter Katie Rook spoke with Mr....

HAVANA (AP) - Fidel Castro said Saturday that consumerism in the United States, the perennial enemy of his communist government, is threatening humanity's very existence. Castro used the latest of his «Reflections of the Commander in Chief» columns to lambast American capitalism, quoting a former Russian defense official who says the world must stand up to the United States and its money-grubbing ways. «Commercial advertising and consumerism are incompatible with the survival of the species,» Castro wrote in the essay titled «Hard and Obvious Realities» and published in Cuba's two leading state-controlled newspapers. Castro turns 81 on Aug. 13 and...

HAVANA - Fidel Castro said Wednesday that Cuba is "marching ahead" without him in power, insisting that he is consulted on all important decisions but giving no hint about when — or if — he might retake office after stepping down one year ago. But he was decidedly less optimistic about the island's chances of improving relations with the United States, writing in his latest newspaper essay that "no one should entertain the slightest illusion" Washington will negotiate with Cuba. Castro, who turns 81 this month, has not been seen in public since July 31, 2006, when he stunned Cuba...

HAVANA - Cuba passed the one-year anniversary of Fidel Castro's withdrawal from power without official mention of the fact on Tuesday — but Castro published an essay proclaiming Cuba's victories at the Pan American games were a triumph for the revolution. "On 59 occasions we heard the spirited notes of the Cuban National Anthem playing — in spite of everything!" Castro wrote in the latest of a series of columns, referring to the 59 gold medals the country won during the hemispheric competition in Rio de Janeiro — second only to the United States. Castro, who turns 81 on Aug....

CAMAGUEY, Cuba - Raul Castro said Thursday that Cuba has avoided the collapse the U.S. predicted when his brother Fidel fell ill a year ago, and signaled he was willing to talk with a new American administration after President Bush leaves power. The acting president said the island suffered "a hard blow" when Fidel relinquished power last year, but he focused more on the future while addressing tens of thousands of loyalists celebrating Cuba's Revolution Day. "These have truly been difficult moments, although with a diametrically different impact than that expected by our enemies, who wished for chaos to take...

HAVANA (Reuters) - Convalescing Cuban leader Fidel Castro has bowed out of Thursday's Revolution Day festivities, with his stand-in and brother, Raul Castro, to speak in his place, the government said on Wednesday. "Raul will speak tomorrow" blared a red banner headline of the Communist party newspaper Granma. The news was hardly a surprise to most Cubans and foreign observers as Fidel Castro has repeatedly failed to appear in public since undergoing the first of a series of intestinal operations a year ago. "We'll be waiting for him. If Fidel can't make it, who better than Raul to be here,"...